The senior running back highlighted a 45-7 rout against the Waynesboro Indians on homecoming Friday night at Indian Stadium in a game that was never close.

“I think this is one of those games Northern circled on their calendar at the end of last season,” said Waynesboro coach Scott Shacreaw, whose team handed the Polar Bears a 36-27 loss last season on the same field.

“I know they put a lot of effort into it, but the bottom line is there’s gotta be a transformation that occurs. Our practices have to get better. Our off the field stuff has to get better. We have to watch film on our own. It’s the little things like that, the stuff we do after practice and before practice that’s going to make the program better. We have to have a complete change of our mindset.”

Friday night’s contest showed the diverse paths the two programs are going.

The Indians faltered in aspects of the game in ways that teams struggle with in the preseason or early regular season games. The offense was nonexistent, and running back Johnnie Adgers — who is exposed in the backfield as the only back other than the quarterback in the spread offense — drew 22 eyes on just about every play.

The senior speedster never got a chance to break into the open field last night and was held to just 53 yards on 11 carries. Meanwhile, Waynesboro used three different quarterbacks. Starter Aaron Conrad was hurt on the team’s first possession and replaced by Connor Fetterhoff. Nathan Toney engineered the Tribe late in the game and led Waynesboro to its only touchdown of the game.

Locke, whose exploits are known around the Mid-Penn Conference much like Adgers’ reputation as a game changer, carried the ball seven times during the first Polar Bears possession, including a 7-yard scamper to open the scoring. He added a 1-yard run after Northern intercepted a Fetterhoff pass and had a first-and-goal from the 5 yard line.

And the rout was on.

“Northern has their program they’ve established,” Shacreaw said. “(Coach Rick Mauck) has been around since 1997. He’s a class guy. I take my hat off to them. They prepared well. They did a lot of their own work. Their kids definitely studied some film just by some of the things they were talking about on the field.”

Waynesboro (2-5, 1-3 Mid-Penn Colonial Division) was overmatched and outplayed by the 6-1 Polar Bears, which improved to 4-0 in the division and face off against fellow divisional unbeaten Shippensburg next week in Dillsburg.

Page 2 of 2 - Northern scored 31 points in the second quarter to take a 45-0 halftime lead. The second half went by lightning quick as the mercy rule was in effect. The Indians scored the game’s final points when Toney passed 8 yards to Nathan Eisenhauer for a touchdown with 1:32 to play. Jesse Smith added the extra point.

“They didn’t have to do a whole lot of different stuff offensively,” Shacreaw said. “We didn’t step up to the challenge. They won more one on one battles than we did. They wanted it more. That’s just the way it is. We took a shellacking. There’s a lot that shouldn’t have happened in week seven that happened.”

The die was cast early in this game. After Northern scored on its first possession, Conrad was hurt on the first place from scrimmage when he was tackled near the sideline and walked gingerly to the Waynesboro bench with what appeared to be an ankle injury. Adgers followed with a short gain and Fetterhoff threw an interception that led to a score and a 14-0 deficit.

It was 20-0 when the Polar bears marched 41 yards in 10 plays with two third-down conversions along the way. Quarterback Tristan Kalinay hit John Gamber on a 14-yard scoring pass. The PAT was no good, but on Northern’s next possession which followed a Waynesboro turnover, Locke took the handoff and sprinted 80 yards untouched for the touchdown and a 28-0 lead after Kalinay ran in the two-point conversion.

A review of the Indians’ first-half possessions reveals why they ended up on the wrong end of a one-sided score: interception, punt, fumble, interception, punt, fumble and punt.

The Tribe’s most promising drive early in the game saw Adgers carry the ball three straight times for double digit yardage, including gains of 15, 19 and 10 yards to give Waynesboro a first down at the Northern 10 yard line. But lightning struck on third and goal when the Indians fumbled into the end zone for a touchback, setting up Locke’s long gainer for a score.

Zaccary Thomas kicked a 27-yard field goal, Gamber caught a 52-yard scoring pass from Kalinary and Travis Saylor was on the receiving end of an 8-yard TD pass to close the scoring in the first half.

Northern outgained Waynesboro 356-124. The Indians committed six turnovers to none for the Polar Bears.

Waynesboro travels to Perry County next Friday to play West Perry in Elliottsburg in a league game. Kickoff is 7 p.m.